About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Friday, November 15, 2019

МИР is for T35/85 in Approximately 1:87th Scale

And a really rather nice one! Actually МИР is for Mir, the manufacturer of this little . . . well; it's somewhere between a toy and a model, and was manufactured in Mir's branch No. 3 in Minsk.

БССР; МИР; МЛП БССР; МПИО "МИР"; Филиал №3 г. Минск; ул. Опанского; AFV's; Approximately 1:87th Scale; Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic; BSSR; HO-OO T34; Minsk; Mir; Model Tank; Opanskogo Street; Russian AFV's; Russian T34; Russian Tank; Russian Toy Tank; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Mir Toys; Soviet Plastic Toy; T34 Hybrid; T34 Tank; T34/85; Tank Model; Tank Toy; Toy Tank;
It's had a broken barrel for as long as I've had it, which is a long'ish time as I can't remember when it came in, so probably back soon after the wall came down, and this stuff was suddenly everywhere, several of the stall holder's at Andy Harfield's shows down in Kent used to carry Soviet die-casts and plastic, so maybe I got it there?

Anyway I photographed it back in the summer with the broken barrel, meaning to mend it at the time, but sort of forgot, then it sat around for a month or two, got put away, and when I noticed the photo's again a few weeks ago, so got it out and mended it, and took some more shots, then last week I finally got the box translated by Nazar Marchenko, and here it is!

60 kopeks in what was probably between 1976-85 (from the codes), seems a bit steep compared to other pre-priced Soviet-bloc toys we've looked at here of the same era, but I guess that's reflected in the build-quality and material; polystyrene. Note also the toothed, retaining-washer holding the turret on while allowing it to revolve properly.

БССР; МИР; МЛП БССР; МПИО "МИР"; Филиал №3 г. Минск; ул. Опанского; AFV's; Approximately 1:87th Scale; Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic; BSSR; HO-OO T34; Minsk; Mir; Model Tank; Opanskogo Street; Russian AFV's; Russian T34; Russian Tank; Russian Toy Tank; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Mir Toys; Soviet Plastic Toy; T34 Hybrid; T34 Tank; T34/85; Tank Model; Tank Toy; Toy Tank;
The box; Nazar has kindly translated all of it, most of which I'll transfer to the nascent Cyrillic page, but suffice to say for now that the БССР translates as BSSR for the Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic, the rest is production stuff and age-range messages. The Box also hides a secret we'll look at in a moment!

БССР; МИР; МЛП БССР; МПИО "МИР"; Филиал №3 г. Минск; ул. Опанского; AFV's; Approximately 1:87th Scale; Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic; BSSR; HO-OO T34; Minsk; Mir; Model Tank; Opanskogo Street; Russian AFV's; Russian T34; Russian Tank; Russian Toy Tank; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Mir Toys; Soviet Plastic Toy; T34 Hybrid; T34 Tank; T34/85; Tank Model; Tank Toy; Toy Tank;
Mended - it was a clean break - and posed with two other candidates for 34/85's, Crescent's lead lump on the left and the Airfix 'Attack force' readymade on the right. I've mentioned before that the Airfix one doesn't look right, and you can see here that it's less of the well known tank's hull and more of a truncated pyramid! The whole thing is too tall?

The shot also reveals that the Mir model is closer to the 1:87th of HO-gauge compatible vehicles, than the Airfix's 1:76th'ish! The Crescent (closer to 1:120th?) still has a toothpick-barrel, but I have coloured it with art-markers to half-match the camel-dung khaki of the original!

БССР; МИР; МЛП БССР; МПИО "МИР"; Филиал №3 г. Минск; ул. Опанского; AFV's; Approximately 1:87th Scale; Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic; BSSR; HO-OO T34; Minsk; Mir; Model Tank; Opanskogo Street; Russian AFV's; Russian T34; Russian Tank; Russian Toy Tank; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Mir Toys; Soviet Plastic Toy; T34 Hybrid; T34 Tank; T34/85; Tank Model; Tank Toy; Toy Tank;
Ahh-yes . . . the boxes little secret, isn't actually much of a secret; it's just too small for the model? I suspect it was shipped with the turret and retaining-washer separate, for home-assembly? Once assembled it's 'garage' fails to close properly!

БССР; МИР; МЛП БССР; МПИО "МИР"; Филиал №3 г. Минск; ул. Опанского; AFV's; Approximately 1:87th Scale; Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic; BSSR; HO-OO T34; Minsk; Mir; Model Tank; Opanskogo Street; Russian AFV's; Russian T34; Russian Tank; Russian Toy Tank; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Mir Toys; Soviet Plastic Toy; T34 Hybrid; T34 Tank; T34/85; Tank Model; Tank Toy; Toy Tank;
How it will have to be from now on! And don't tell me to try it the other way round; it's even longer . . . Central Planning huh? They made a Buttle box for a Tuttle model!

БССР; МИР; МЛП БССР; МПИО "МИР"; Филиал №3 г. Минск; ул. Опанского; AFV's; Approximately 1:87th Scale; Belorussian Soviet Socialistic Republic; BSSR; HO-OO T34; Minsk; Mir; Model Tank; Opanskogo Street; Russian AFV's; Russian T34; Russian Tank; Russian Toy Tank; Small Scale World; smallscaleworld.blogspot.com; Soviet Mir Toys; Soviet Plastic Toy; T34 Hybrid; T34 Tank; T34/85; Tank Model; Tank Toy; Toy Tank;
I accidentally hit the collage button on the whole folder, and it worked so well I kept it; turns out I could have got away with a single image for the entire post!

A big thanks to Nazar for helping with the ID, that's Mir's slightly diminutive but rather fine T34/85 on the Blog!

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